U.K., U.S. regulators sign collaboration agreement

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are the latest pair of regulators to sign a deal designed to promote cross-border financial technology (fintech) innovation.

The two organizations have reached a deal that will commit them to supporting innovative firms through their respective fintech initiatives, known as LabCFTC and FCA Innovate.

Among other things, the arrangement facilitates referrals for fintech firms seeking to enter each others’ markets, and aims to ensure information sharing between the regulators.

“International borders shouldn’t act as a barrier to innovation and competition in financial services and that is why agreements like the one we have signed today with the CFTC, a forward looking and proactive regulator, are so important,” says Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the FCA, in a statement. “As our first agreement of this kind with a U.S. regulator, we look forward to working with LabCFTC in assisting firms, both here in the UK and in the U.S., who want to scale and expand internationally in our respective markets.”

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) signed a fintech cooperation agreement with the FCA in February 2017, and since then Canadian regulators have signed a number of similar deals with foreign authorities designed to facilitate cross-border co-operation.

The FCA Innovation Hub, which was founded in 2014, has supported over 500 businesses and the authorization of 43 of them, while LabCFTC, which was launched last year, has engaged with more than 150 firms and is planning an innovation competition this year.

“We believe that by collaborating with the best-in-class FCA fintech team, the CFTC can contribute to the growing awareness of the critical role of regulators in 21st century digital markets,” says Christopher Giancarlo CFTC chairman, in a statement.

The agreement is the first for the CFTC with a foreign regulator, he adds.